The BNP-led alliance’s agitation since Jan 5 has caused Bangladesh to count losses worth more than Tk 1.2 trillion, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said.

She told Parliament on Wednesday that 101 people had died, mostly from burns from firebombing on public transports including ferry, over the past 52 days.

“The worst way to kill people is to burn them alive. A party’s aim cannot be to come into power using that method.”

Hasina continued that 1,173 vehicles and six ferries were set alight and there had been 25 sabotages in the railways.

“The current elected government has a tenure of five years. So why this anarchy?” she asked.

The the BNP and its smaller partners that boycotted the 2014 national elections are pressing for an interim parliamentary election under what they call ‘a non-partisan administration’.

The prime minister said the movement had in fact been waged for the BNP chairperson’s personal gains.

“They are causing the anarchy to save their existence using some people of BNP and Jamaat-Shibir and terrorists.

“If this does not stop, the government will take action against those involved as per law,” she again warned.

bdnews24.com/RI